


Independent Development

by izumi2



Series: Random Stories (Civil War Team Iron Man) [5]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: 5 Things, Civil War Team Iron Man, I mean, Not Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, Not Natasha Friendly, Not Steve Friendly, Sam Wilson-centric, They basically don't show though, but yeah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:53:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24400891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izumi2/pseuds/izumi2
Summary: 5 Times Sam Wilson had a different reaction from Canon to Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanov showing up on his door.~*~Civil War Team Iron ManModerated because of TrollsEdit: completely forgot to add it to the right series oops
Series: Random Stories (Civil War Team Iron Man) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1073379
Comments: 114
Kudos: 849





	Independent Development

One:

Sam got out of the VA pretty happy. There were more people today, meaning that more people were seeking help. That did mean that he would run a little late today but nothing that put a crimp in his schedule. Some things were harder to let go from his time in the Air Force but this was a very good one, organizing skills were a must in the military.

He went to the local pound and helped to walk the dogs and clean the sand boxes, he summoned enough guts to talk to the really cute secretary and ask her out.

Looking at his watch, he realized that he needed to run a bit to get to his classes. He was three semesters away from being a fully qualified psychologist and for that he needed the attendance. Sam finally organized his schedule in a way that he would get perfect attendance while still fulfilling his responsibilities to the VA and the job he took to himself in the local pound.

Classes were hard and he waited a bit after they finished to ask a few questions to the teacher that appreciated an honestly interested student.

Tired, but knowing that his mom would visit him in a couple of days and wouldn’t like it one bit if all he had in his fridge was orange juice, milk and canned stuff, Sam went grocery shopping.

He was never a 100% sure about how to pick good vegetables. Fruits were easier though, so a fruit salad it was. A good chicken was always a good choice as far as his Mom was concerned. Fish had too much mercury and “Have you seen how they treat those poor animals, Samuel?”, although Sam read an article about too much hormones in chicken and hoped his Mom hadn’t read that one yet. He did **_not_** want to be a vegetarian. Some mild spices for the chicken as he remembered that his Mom was coming so he would accompany her to the doctor, her stomach was not agreeing with her lately.

He got home when it was already dark. He put the groceries away and carefully marked his date in his cell’s calendar. Completely exhausted from the day, Sam took a good long shower and collapsed on his bed.

Sam completely missed the news about the destruction of the Potomac until the next day and he was completely poleaxed when his neighbors told him about two strange people that they didn’t know waiting on his front door for hours the day before.

Large, blond guy that doesn’t know his own shirt size and some drugstore redhead was the description he expected from their teenage daughter though. He laughed it off while still confused, did he know anybody like that?

~*~

Two:

“Bye, Sarge, thanks again.” The former private had a really unfortunate start and end to her military career, the fact that she came to the VA at all was a huge step and Sam would be damned if he was the one to ruin it.

“You’re more than welcome, it’s a completely normal process. Will we see you next week?”

She hesitated but nodded with a small smile.

Smiling in relief, Sam went to his home. Took a shower, put some really comfortable clothes and put on his headphones, settling in to read a book he has been meaning to finish.

A knock on the door interrupted his nice me-time. With a tired sigh, he rolled his eyes.

“You kidding me?” He whispered to himself indignantly.

He waited a bit just in case it was something official. Perhaps an emergency. But nothing, just more knocking. If it were the police or the militaries, they would announce it.

 _‘Police Department’,_ or _‘FBI’_ or whoever. Meaning that this was either a prank or strangers or some “well-meaning neighbors with an offer of pie”?

But who the hell does that? Show up completely unannounced to other people’s houses?

His Mom made sure to drill that lesson in his head: people’s houses are their sanctuaries. And you don’t invade people’s sanctuaries. Call first, if not to ask if he can visit than to at least warn the owner of the house.

His Mom was the Queen of the Wilson Household for a reason, so taking a page out of her book, Sam turned up the volume of the music in his iPod a bit and ignored the knocking until it went away.

~*~

Three:

Mrs. Wilson was a very nice woman. If you think of Mrs. Wilson you think about this spine of granite hidden behind a warm and happy smile.

She was the proudest mother in the world. Her baby boy was a military man and helping other military men. She only wished that they lived closer.

But every time she needed it, her Samuel was hopping on the first flight to New York, this time she insisted that he only picked her up from the airport here in D.C. Not only she could get to know a bit of the city and state her boy made a home in but she could see that fancy doctor here in Washington that Sam insisted that she saw.

“Sam, honey, I think I will be fine for the next twenty minutes. Now go take a shower and wash behind your ears.” And she watched with satisfaction as her baby turned a deep beetroot color.

“Mom.” He gritted out.

“Yeah, being patronized doesn’t feel so good, does it?” She raised an eyebrow.

Unable to say anything to that, Sam did as he was told.

Her son’s shower barely started when there was a knock on the door.

Mrs. Wilson answered and was met with a very big blond guy and a small redhaired woman. They didn’t look like anyone in the pictures that Sam sent her of his friends. “Yes, may I help you?”

The blond man opened his mouth but hesitated. The small redhaired sneaked a look inside the house and Mrs. Wilson made sure to block the entrance with her body.

“Is this… Sam Wilson’s place?”

“What is this about?” Mrs. Wilson frowned.

“We are friends.” The blond man tried to reassure but stepping forward like he did only made the difference in height more intimidating.

Mrs. Wilson frowned harder and didn’t back down. “Oh, how do you know my son?”

Both seemed wrong footed at her introduction, Mrs. Wilson was not liking this.

“I… went jogging with him the other day and… talked with him a bit in the VA.” The blond man spoke up.

But Mrs. Wilson was now just plain spooked. “My son gave you his address after two conversations?”

She was already leaning inside, closing the door and clearly afraid of this huge man at her son’s door. And if this story was true, she needed to have some words with Samuel.

“No! I—” The redhead elbowed him hard in the stomach and Mrs. Wilson closed the door a bit more.

She couldn’t help remembering how Sam was a really scrawny as a kid and there was this big girl in the neighborhood that would steal the other kids’ candies in Halloween.

The redhead was short and had a delicate face. But Mrs. Wilson wasn’t fooled.

Natasha was cursing in her mind. For some reason it didn’t occur to her, or Steve, that Sam **_wouldn’t_** be alone.

And she could just picture what Steve was going to say, _‘Oh, Mrs. Wilson, your son didn’t give us his address, but here we are after hacking his records.’_ The woman was already wary enough without **_that_**.

“Well… maybe you can call him later.” Mrs. Wilson was closing the rest of the door when Steve put his hand on the frame.

“Look… Mrs. Wilson, I’m sorry for all this confusion, but it is an emergency.”

“You have my son’s address, but you don’t have his cellphone? To call… and warn that you are coming or what the emergency is.”

Natasha had to purse her lips at that.

“Uh, mom?”

“Sam!” Steve was visibly relieved but now that they had a completely unaffiliated civilian in the situation, the man’s mom at that, Natasha couldn’t see a way that the woman would be happy with anything in the situation.

Sam was also obviously just getting out of the shower, a towel tied in his waist and a completely confused expression on his face.

This was… a disaster, why did Natasha think that Steve, I obliged this random villain in the middle of a mission just to prove I could fight without my shield, would have a reasonable plan?

~*~

Four:

Sam could only gawk at the people in his doorstep.

“Hi, I’m sorry for this but everyone else we know is trying to kill us.”

And yeah, they were clearly tired and dirty and in any other occasion Sam would have been a lot more sympathetic but the only thing going through his mind right now was, “How the FUCK do you know my address?!”

Steve frowned. “Language.”

“Are you kidding me? I never gave you my address, and it’s not on phonebooks! Actually, I don’t remember ever giving you my cellphone so I have to calmly analyze what is going on when two people that I met for less than half an hour show up on my **_doorstep_**? It was news everywhere that Captain America wasn’t affiliated with any governmental agency, so you people **_really_** shouldn’t have been able to find me. And hey, maybe I’m not inured enough to eccentricities of the capes and tights, but from the little guy’s perspective, this just made you people a couple of creepy weirdoes!”

~*~

Five:

“Really? Things are that end-of-the-world serious?”

Steve looked relieved that Sam finally understood. “Yes!”

Sam made a face before nodding. “Ok, wait here a minute.”

Natasha thought that maybe he was retrieving his own file. She vaguely knew about the Falcon Wings, Stark Industries, because what wasn’t? She rolled her eyes.

She could see Wilson’s back. He was on the phone for about five minutes before nodding and coming back with his file, like she predicted. Natasha felt her shoulders relaxing, she could still read people.

“Ok, before I left, I was part of a pararescue team. A little hush, hush, but very fast and light, like pararescue should be. The tech and the project were ultimately scrapped. Too expensive, too many maintenance hours. Although the results were impressive enough for the government and Air Force to give the go-ahead, there were not **_nearly_** enough pilots capable of the skills to use it. It was called “The Falcon”, Stark Industries project.”

And yeah, there was the pride in being able to show off to Captain America, Natasha fought the urge to roll her eyes again.

“The project was scrapped? Is Tony that concerned about money?” There was the Captain America is Disappointed in You Face.

But Wilson just frowned a bit. “What? Uh… no? Air Force and the government were willing to back it, I said that it was scrapped because there weren’t enough **_pilots_** with the necessary skills.”

Steve made a face. “Pilots?”

Wilson nodded, “Honestly no wonder the military stopped going after the Iron Man armor. The thing has a HUD of all things, uses flaps and flares and it is basically a plane, but you’re not sitting with a control panel in front of you, your body has like an inch of tech between it and just air… I shudder just thinking about the headache that it would be piloting the armor, the human body isn’t exactly aerodynamic. But hey, Dr. Stark sure showed those idiots that think that “anyone could pilot the armor”, it’s like saying that anyone can pilot a F-16. Let me tell you: Senate didn’t earn **_any_** points with the military that day of the hearing back in 2010.” But when the silence stretched, Sam just looked confused. “What?”

There was a knock on the door that stopped Natasha and Steve from replying. Ignoring the way both reached for their weapons, Sam opened his door and was unsurprised to see a very serious Colonel Rhodes carrying a big silver briefcase and a harried looking Tony Stark feverishly typing in his cellphone.

“What are you doing here?”

Sam was surprised at the hostility in Steve’s voice and decided to answer for Colonel Rhodes, that didn’t look very happy.

“I’m pretty much the only one left able to use the Falcon Wings, but they are one of the best protected tech in the country so I needed permission to use it. The Wings being destroyed or falling into HYDRA hands… yeah, no thank you. Two… well… three birds with one stone. I reached out to my General that reached out to Colonel Rhodes. We didn’t serve in the same chain of command, but I have to say, it is an honor to meet you, Sir.” He stood at attention.

“At ease, Staff Sargent Wilson. We were apprised of the situation on the way. Dr. Stark already took care of Project Insight on the way and is now coordinating with the other agencies about extracting personnel. Telling S.H.I.E.L.D from HYDRA apart will take years. But the main headquarters was turned into a fortress, so.” He put the briefcase in the couch and opened it to reveal the Falcon Wings. “Arm yourselves. We will wait in the car.”

As Sam re-familiarized himself with the straps, he felt confusion taking hold. “Hey,” he turned to Natasha and Steve that were frozen on the spot, “why didn’t you guys call Colonel Rhodes and Dr. Stark instead of me? I mean, I’m flattered but unless you guys knew that I had the Wings I’m not much of backup for a building full of Neo-Nazis.” He frowned. “But if you guys knew about the Wings, then you had to know that there was a great chance that Colonel Rhodes and Dr. Stark would get involved anyways. I mean it’s not like I could just steal them and expect the government to swallow that I had a good reason.”

**Author's Note:**

> I almost put having sex with someone or just by himself. Believe me, no one likes getting close to the finishing line only to have someone interrupting it. Not a quicker way to anger someone. But the thought of having to explain out loud that "No, your son didn't give us his address we just "got it"." was too good.
> 
> Everything is pretty self-explanatory *wolfish grin* but:
> 
> 1\. First the very, very basic: what are the chances of you meeting the owner of the house if you don’t call first? But this was also to express my indignation over the fact that Sam’s entire life ceases to exist the second Captain America needs him.  
> 2\. I pretend that I’m not home if someone that didn’t have the decency to warn first is knocking at my door. *shrugs*
> 
> 3\. You try to explain to the Average Joe the thought process of what the hell happened in CAWS and I couldn’t believe myself.
> 
> 4\. So you meet a celebrity the other day, you guys talk for fifteen minutes and suddenly he shows up at your door… but you didn’t give your number, much less your address… I would call the police, Stalker Alert!
> 
> 5\. I had fun. That’s it. *grins* Touching a bit on the "anyone could pilot the Iron Man suit"... wow, way to crap all over the ENTIRETY of the Air Force... will someone ask them what do they think about that little tidbit? It's like saying that anyone could pilot the fighter jets they do...
> 
> ~*~
> 
> Sometimes I like to live in the world where my head canons live. I have the head canon for this fic that Sam Wilson actually has a life. And that he can’t always drop everything to “do as Steve does... only slower”. I mean, did you notice this? He is the new Captain America and we literally don’t know anything about him. “Oh, but we are going to find more in the Falcon/Winter Soldier”… yeah, just a little problem there: we have known him since 2014 (six years and five movies) and we don’t even know if he has any family left. Or a girlfriend or a boyfriend... I mean, did he go celibate for six years since meeting Captain America?
> 
> It’s kinda sad when you start to think about it. Steve’s only purpose seem to be the next Avengers mission and destroying punch bags... and Bucky of course. And Sam’s only purpose seems to be “do as Captain America does, only slower”. They get exactly zero development in any other area and that’s sad.
> 
> Infuriating when it affects other people but on its own it’s just sad.


End file.
